The Curiousity of a Songbird
by RadianceRose
Summary: The High King and his daughter explore the Hall of Kings, and Tinuviel discovers a very curious tomb. Why would hobbits be buried with the Kings of Men? Subtle and easily ignorable Merry/Pippin. Eldarion's reign.


"Ata, I'm confused." Small hands grasped the hem of the High King's tunic, small, dark eyes met a pair of wise, grey ones. "I don't remember these kings."

Eldarion smiled and lifted his daughter into strong arms, "That's because they never were."

Tinuviel looked even more confused then ever. "But Ata, why are they here if they were never kings. This is where the kings are buried, isn't it?"

Eldarion nodded. "Yes. Kings, and those they honor. This," he knelt and brushed a thin layer of dust from the inscribed stone of the monument, "is the last resting place of Thain Peregrin Took of the Shire, and Master Merridoc Brandybuck, Knight of the Mark. You have heard of them before, in grandfather's stories."

Recognition flickered in the girl's eyes, but she still seemed confused. "Were they the hobbits, Ata? I thought that they went on the ships to Valinor."

"There were more than two hobbits." The King smiled, a smile many told him bore an uncanny resemblance that of his father. "It is true that Frodo, the Ring-bearer, and Samwise, his closest companion, sailed to the Undying Lands, but they were not the only hobbits who helped your grandfather and the others of the Fellowship to defeat the dark lord in the War of the Ring." He paused, setting the girl down, her slippers making soft shuffling noises on the marble floor. "Merry," he indicated the tomb, "and Pippin, were brave and incredible hobbits. Master Merry wounded the Lord of the Nazgul, which allowed him to be slain by-" Eldarion raised an eyebrow at his daughter.

"By Queen Eowyn!" she replied, gleefully. Tinuviel prided herself in knowing the history of her kingdom (which she did, indeed, think of as HER kingdom. Eldarion had no son, and a queen had ruled in Rohan, so it was only fitting in the young girl's eyes that she should one day become High Queen of the Reunited Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor).

"That's my girl." The King ruffled Tinuviel's hair. It was dark, almost black, like her grandmother's.

"So Merry wounded the Witch-king of Angmar, and then Queen Eowyn finished him off dead." The girl nodded once, as if agreeing with herself, dark eyebrows tightening as she considered. "But what did, uh-" she paused, struggling for words.

"Pippin?" Eldarion suggested.

"Yes. What did Pipin do?"

"Peregrin Took fought bravely alongside the rest of the Fellowship, helped Merry and the Ents overtake Isenguard from Sauramon and saved Lord Faramir's life."

Tinuviel's eyes widened. "Hobbits took over Isenguard? And how did he save grandfather Faramir?" As she always did, the young princess of Gondor referred to the old Steward as if he were indeed her kin, although they shared only a loose blood connection.

Eldarion laughed. "You never knew that? What, you thought that it was just Ents?"

Tinuviel stared at the floor.

"It's alright, Vi, you don't have to know the entire history of Middle Earth before your tenth birthday."

Tinuviel sighed in frustration and bit her lip. "I know," she said seriously, "but I want to."

"Well then we will try and teach it to you," her father replied. "In the mean time, it is most likely time for lunch. We can finish our history lesson later."

"Okay," Tinuviel agreed, distracted, for a time, by her grumbling stomach. The girl took her father's hand as they walked from the Hall of Kings. "Ata," she asked, just as they reached the threshold, "how come Merry and Pippin are buried together, like grandfather and grandmother?"

Eldarion smiled. "That, my dearest little song bird, is a story for another time, and to tell it all will take years."

"You mean you won't tell me until I'm older," Tinuviel said, pouting.

"Not the whole story. It is too complicated for a little girl."

"But I'm not just a little girl," the princess argued, "I'm gonna be the High King when I grow up, so you have to tell me everything about history that there ever was."

"Not with that attitude I don't," Eldarion replied. "Not to mention that you're going to be the High King of no lunch if you don't hurry up."

Tinuviel tugged on her father's hand hurriedly. "No way, we're not missing lunch for nothing."

"Well then you can wait for the story, right?"

The girl sighed, considering. "Okay," she said finally, her stomach growling. "But you have to promise to tell me when I'm bigger."

"King's word."

Small hands shook large ones. "Now lunch," Tinuviel said matter-of-factly.

Eldarion smiled, taking one last glance at the tomb's of his ancestors, and of the hobbits buried alongside them. "Now lunch," he agreed.

* * *

**Author's Drabble:**

OH GOD.

Spell checker HATES this thing SO much. xD

Practically every other word has a red squiggly.

Oh well. That's to be expected with LotR fanfics, I suppose.

Anyway... I had to do so much research for this. I had to figure out Quenya for father, couldn't, so dissected the closest I could find, which was adan/atan, meaning fathers of men. And then I had to figure out if Eldarion ever had kids, and then I had to create one, because Tolkein never said if he did or did not.

And then I had to look up Merry and Pippin's titles and various other names and crap.

Oh, and if you're wondering, Tinuviel means Nightengale in Quenya (High Elvish), so that's why all the songbird stuff.

Hope this was enjoyable, even if the slash was barely barely barely there.

I just really liked this idea.

Oh, and I have (obviously) changed my opinion of OCs. It all depends. For instance, I have no problem with, say, Pandora Pirrup or Artemis Longbottom, but Mary Sue Uzumaki is still going to piss me off.

Namarie (farewell),

~Radiance "reviews are love" Rose


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